Friday, August 1, 2008

THREE CUPS OF TEA

Hi.. I'm writing about "Three Cups of Tea" at a Starbucks. Thats like writing about the NBA at Yankee Stadium...but I am getting ahead of myself. I got some "splain-in" to do and I will...but first...the training and racing stuff.

Sunday is the 3rd race in consecutive weeks with next weeks Half Ironman being the 4th in 4. Kinda cranking the sked and loving it. Sunday is the Cleveland Triathlon, which, I believe was the 3rd ever race I did back in the mid 80's. I have done it many times. Its had more name changes than a government witness. Sunday I will swim for Dawud, a young boy with cerebral palsy. His mom and dad are going do the biking and running. A great picture of Dawud is on the previous post and a link to his donation page if you are kind enough to check out. Thanks!!!

Got great news. Last Sundays sprint at Fairport was a 3rd place in the 15 man age group. Patrick claimed a 4th place in the tough 25-29 age group. This season, I have had a second, a first and now this third. Good Golly Miss Molly!!!!

Got in a long swim session at Fairport on Tuesday and was even able to enjoy the breakfast afterwards. Had a mini-tweak of my right hammy on Wednesday am. Only ran 40 minutes. Had a thorough weight session on Thursday, and today (fri) ran 2 hours at North Chagrin. Saturday, more weights and a light bike....Sunday I will swim a half mile with everything I have and then be a cheerleader for all the families racing for their children.

Browns camp occupies alot of work time. Putting together a hour special...doing several pieces on that and High School football practice began.. Its busy, but we love it. Tuesday I poked fun at our anchor woman Stacey Bell, who is single, and who caught the bouquet at Kathleen Cochranes wedding last week. We had tape of her gathering it in, like a punt returner, so silly me... I asked Josh Cribbs, the Browns Pro Bowl return man to comment on her ability. He played along very well and it made for a fun segment. Stacey was a good sport too.




THREE CUPS OF TEA

What a book!!!!!! Greg Mortenson turned a failure into a monumental success in a most unusual way. He failed to scale K2, one of the worlds most treacherous and dangerous summits, just missing by so many hundred meters. He nearly died. He was rescued by the incredible Himalayan people and nursed back to health. He vowed to build them a school. The children there had nowhere to learn and had no books. How this American, an infidel, in the heart of Muslim culture, at the time of the Taliban and 911 was able to forge partnerships with the warlords and bad guys is remarklable. Stunning achievements as he was then able to build many more schools...doing what Sir Edmund Hillary did as well in the years after he scaled Mount Everest.
Greg Mortenson, makes me, an extremely upbeat guy seem like a malcontent. He's amazing. So I was thinking and hopefully you can search back as well in your memory.. When did you fail at one thing and still succeed because or in spite of the failure.??


Humm, I thought. Mid 70's I met a woman who I was in love with. But after 6 months, she dumped me. I was despondent. I was out of sorts and depressed without her. I wrote her mom. I expressed my love for her daughter. To this day, my mother in law remembers how much I longed for her daughter, who is of course The Bride. We got back together and my life has been so enriched.

1980, a station in Buffalo New York, fired me. But that wacking, only opened the door for me to come to my hometown and to take the dream job I so wanted. Its the same job I have today...Sportscaster at Fox 8.

Greg Mortenson dranked much more than 3 cups of tea with the people of the mountain region, but he has immensely changed the lives of many children by opening up their minds to education.Heres to many cups of tea, which will mean success for you.. And, yes, if you are not a tea drinker, do like this guy...just drink the brewed beans.All the best.

Life's a Blast.

14 comments:

Tea said...

After having a very difficult week, I'm so glad I checked in. Your post was just what I needed this week. Sometimes I think we all need those reminders that we are stronger than we realize.

Lily on the Road said...

Congrat's on your lastest success's and props to Patrick too!

Good Luck and have fun swimming for Dawud, I'm sure you'll give lots of support to his mom and dad too! Good luck to them!

Thanks for sharing the story and recommending the book Three Cups of Tea, I'll have to pick that up this week...I love reading.

So nice that you and your Bride have stood the test of time....that is incredible in this day and age....hey, you got a brother??? Just Kidding!!

Life IS a blast....

tracie said...

great post as usual JT! good luck tomorrow, i know you will totally rock it!!!

i'm going to have to pick up that book it sounds fantastic. it is so important to remember that things aren't always what they seem and that sometimes while the reasons for things are unknown, the outcome may be better than you expected!

have a great race tomorrow and see you next week! :)

Marcy said...

WHooooaaa JT!! Better clear out some space in that trophy cabinet. Dannngggg!! CONGRATS!! And the best of luck on that HIM!

Anonymous said...

Great job on the races!!

Sounds like a good book...I like how you thought back of you and your Bride :)

Viv said...

Congratulations JT! Your posts just speak to me when i need to be spoken to, know what I mean Vern...
Hope you have a strong solid race tomorrow!

beth said...

wow- first, second, and third already? what's next?

can't wait to hear about the half-ironman! you're killing it this season- while doing great things for others too- awesome!

TriDaddy said...

Great job on ALL the races, not to mention the PR's! Thanks for the book recommendation, too.

Unknown said...

Sounds like a good book a message worth absorbing. :)

Brian said...

maybe i should get that book to get over my depression. good luck next week. i hope to be out there

Kevin said...

Wow! You are doing some serious racing. Congrats on the AG placing

Rainmaker said...

Dang - back to back to back to back weeks of racing? That's tough. Congrats on pushing through.

Smithposts... said...

triguyjt, I am 50 pages into my copy of Three Cups of Tea. Just finished Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, also an incredible read!

Looks like some early misfortunes worked out very well for you!Finding fortunes in the midst of trouble could be an interesting challenge for the blog community.

rocketpants said...

It is a good reminder that sometimes 'failures' are actually big successes dressed for those who can see them as success. Book sounds interesting.